Flat Fee MLS Blog

Real estate agents often use some pretty scary sales tactics when solicitating a listing.  Relax, none of these lies or half truths are as scary as the 6 percent you are guaranteed to lose, if you buy the lie.

The Lies and Truths about Listing Pitches: 

Lie #1:  If you list with a discounter you will be blackballed    and no real agent will show your property.  

Truth #1:  If your home is listed on the MLS, agent’s can’t determine any difference between your house and everyone else’s.   Assuming that they could somehow tell the difference, it wouldn’t matter anyway.  The only thing agents care about is their commission.  If they refuse to show your home, they run a high risk that the buyer will look without them and they earn nothing.  In truth, the only agents who spin the blackball story are listing agents, who are having a hard time scoring a 6 percent fee and those don’t normally work with buyer’s anyway. 

Lie #2:  Our office has a lot of buyers referred from relocation, so your odds of finding a buyer are better if we list your house.

Truth #2:  This is crazy for a number of reasons.  First, agents make the same commission no matter which home someone buys.   Relo buyer or otherwise, agents have absolutely no higher incentive to sell a home they have listed, than any other listings in the MLS.   A great way to turn the tables is to ask, “My home is on the MLS and we are offering a commission on the sale.  If you have so many buyer’s, why haven’t you shown our home?”

Lie #3:  I constantly network with other Realtors, so I will pitch your house to all of them.

Truth #3:  This is a joke, right??  Get real.  The only agent’s who “network” are agents with no customer’s.  They have nothing but free time on their hands, so they hit all the coffee clatches and free martini lunches in an effort to look busy. Agents with real buyers use the MLS to find suitable houses, they do not find homes for sale by word of mouth.

Lie #4:  I will host an Open House for you and send mailers to all your neighbors.

Truth #4:  Yawn!!  The real truth is that agents should thank seller’s who allow them to hold an Open House because it is one of the only means they have to meet buyers and potential clients (ie: your neighbors).  Agents could care less whether someone they meet at your open house, buy’s your home or not.  Their concern is about impressing potential business clients, hoping to generate a commission somewhere down the road.  (Holding an Open House is also a great way for agent’s to look busy in an attempt to justify that 6 percent commission.)   The real truth is that anyone who is excited enough to buy a home during an Open House would have scheduled a showing after seeing a yard sign or InfoTube brochure, anyway.  Don’t buy into this one, sitting at an Open House isn’t rocket science and does little for home seller’s. 

Smart seller’s should remember that scare tactics aren’t real and paying 6 percent of your sales price to an agent is not what sells homes.  Selling a home takes patience, proper pricing and a lot of internet exposure, which is something we can all do with the click of a mouse.

If you are serious about selling your home and making the most money possible, put a sign with an InfoTube in your front yard and get a listing on the MLS and Realtor.com today.   These are the only tools that really sell property.

Phone us at 1-800-381-9496 or email to haline@why6percent.com and start showing and selling today.

              Spring is the time that most homeowners get to work and it’s also the time that shady contractors come of out the woodwork to prey on innocent homeowners. “Some are actual scam artists, while others are just incompetent or unethical,” say Ellis Levinson, a consumer reporter and the author of the book “Hiring Contractors Without Going Through Hell.” 

The good news is that you can protect yourself against these scams. In fact, many scams are easy to detect if you take the time to become an educated, savvy consumer. You need to  compare prices, call references and research the project in advance.

Here are some tips on how to smell a suspicious deal:

1. ‘I just happen to be working in your neighborhood’-reputable contractors work through referrals, not going door to door to attract customers.

2. ‘I have materials left over’-Good contractors order just enough suplies to meet the needs of each job, as often the price for supplies is included in the contract.

3. ‘I need cash upfront’-Don’t ever pay in full for a project before any work has been done. Never. Never. Never! Usually one-third is the industry average.

4. ‘I have a special offer that’s good for today only’-If a contractor is offering a “special deal,” ask him to legitimize what he is offering. You can ask for documentation of this bargain…a flyer, for example, that the contractor has mailed or delivered in the past.

5. ‘I can help you finance the project’-this could indicate a home-improvement loan scam, as the contractor may be getting kickbacks from the lender that he knows. Never finance through you contractor without shopping around and comparing loan terms.

6. ‘I want to use your home as a model’-the scam centers on the idea of using your home as a vehicle, or “show home,” to advertise their services for a hefty discount. Established contractors should have completed enough previous projects that they won’t need your job as a demo.

Still more scams-though any part of your home could be a target, many scams tend to center around driveways, roofs, chimneys and furnaces.

Beware, and remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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